Pegasus Post: September 07, 2023

Thursday September 7 2023 5
Call for volunteers to help
children with parents in jail
• By Dylan Smits
VOLUNTEERS ARE needed for
a mentorship programme to help
support children with a parent in
prison.
Pillars Ka Pou Whakahou is a
national charity which cares for
families of people serving prison
or community sentences.
There are an estimated 17,000
children in New Zealand with a
parent in prison.
The mentorship programme
connects them with an adult
who can act as a confidant and
friend.
A Christchurch mother,
whose children received
mentoring while their father
spent eight years in prison, spoke
anonymously about the benefits
of the programme.
She said having her ex-partner
in prison “brought so many
challenges for our kids”.
She was grateful for the
support of Pillars,and said
it “helped me rebuild the
foundations of my wee family”.
She said the mentors “gave my
children a sense of normality
as, until recently, I have reached
a point I can answer their
questions without falling apart”.
There is a waiting list with six
children in the city who need
mentors.
Pillars general manager Tuhi
Leef said there is a “greater need
than ever” for volunteers.
He said it is partly due to
the pandemic, which put more
distance between parents in jail
and their family. This added to
their emotional distress.
Leef said there is an urgent
need for male mentors who can
help boys.
“It’s often it’s dad that’s in
prison. So having a positive male
role model.”
Without intervention, children
of prisoners are more than nine
times more likely to go prison
than other children.
Leef said mentors help change
the statistics.
“What they’re able to help do
with these rangatahi [young
people] is transformational.
What we want for our whānau is
positive, better outcomes.”
To become a
Pillars mentor,
applicants must
commit to at least
12 months in the
programme.
Mentors
meet with the
Tuhi Leef
child weekly or
fortnightly for a
catch up or fun
outing.
Danielle Moore is a 25-yearold
PhD student at of Canterbury
University. She has mentored a
17-year-old girl for the past six
years.
It has been rewarding for her.
“I feel like I get the same out of
it that she does,” Moore said.
“Over the time she’s become,
you know, a really close friend
and someone that I’ve grown
with since 19.”
Moore said: “What we do has
sort of developed overtime.”
From connecting over their
shared interest in art to helping
study for NCEA, Moore has seen
her grow throughout her teenage
years.
Recently they started going
thrifting at second hand clothing
stores together and discussing
life after high school.
“She can share
anything with me
– and she knows
that.”
Moore said the
qualities needed
to make a great
Pillars mentor are
patience, empathy
and wanting to
make a positive
impact.
Danielle
Moore
“You’ve got to devote time to it.
“Someone that’s reliable and
consistent, I think that’s a big
thing.”
•Potential mentors are
interviewed and must
pass reference and police
checks before being
matched with a suitable
young person. To become
a Pillars mentor, apply
at www.pillars.org.nz/
become-a-mentor.
PARKLING
HAMPAGNE
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National Party Candidate
for Christchurch East
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